Under The Full Moon
by msu
Summary: Complete! The Scoobs spend a night out at the beach having fun and learning something new about one another though not always of the good. Just a cute lil fic for fun. Please read and review.


Summary: Set sometime in the future and everyone is friends. A day of fun for the Scooby gang and a bit of fluff to boot.

Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me except my made up characters, Meg and **my** RJ. Other than that, none. I've tried to sneak them but, nope, they still belong to Joss and his gang.

MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON

All eight official members piled into Willow's minivan, the van she opted for instead of a car just for these particular occasions. Well, that and if they ever had to haul ass into or out of a sticky situation. Also great for carrying multiple amounts and sizes of weaponry. Bazookas and flame throwers stowed nicely in the rear. Anyway, they had all voted to take the night off from the normal patrolling duties. Another Big Bad had been conquered and nothing majorly wiggy was going on or around the hellmouth as of late. They had all been complaining about needing some R and R. And neither R stood for research, which is what they had been doing most of lately.

Anya and Xander snagged the back seat first. The couple was almost inseparable now that they were back together and had begun discussing the evil wedding plans once again. Of course things were on a different level now.

Willow and Meg sat in the next seat up, incessantly talking and giggling. The two wiccans looked so cute together, and could almost be passed off as sisters if they weren't involved and anyway, that would be just...gross.

Dawn and RJ, who sat in the seats closest to the front, had started dating near the end of their sophomore year. He was a new student and Dawn was nice to him. The two became instant friends which blossomed into much more. Soon after, it was revealed to Buffy, then to Dawn that he was not any average human. Neither Summers seemed to think anything about RJ's revelation of being somewhat more than human. The others were just as laid back.

And then there was Buffy. It had come down to the rest of the scoobies to get the Slayer to admit that she was lost on the vampire with a soul. Everyone, including herself, knew there was no way she would ever lead a normal life. Even Xander was tired of watching the "foreplay" between the ex-enemies. And Spike undoubtedly loved her more than anything. He was always around anyway fighting by their sides, eating their food, drinking their beer. So he was finally accepted into the circle.

Willow appointed Spike the driver of the beast, handing the keys over without any reservation, so Buffy sat in the passenger seat. She would be co-pilot and a good one at that. Spike and Buffy glanced at one another before he turned the engine over.

"Buckle up, everyone. We're getting ready for takeoff," she announced. She smiled at Spike and nodded as he threw it in drive and pulled away from the curb.

One pit stop and 45 minutes later, they reached their destination. Everyone piled out in opposite order they filed in and stood quietly staring at the area. Just the way it should be; a deserted spread of beach front all to themselves. The warm breeze blew off of the waves, surrounding them with the salty aroma while the full moon shone brightly over everything. The guys took off to find driftwood for a fire while the girls spread out blankets and pulled out the baskets and bags of food for their midnight feast. The radio was turned on, and tuned into a contemporary station.

The fellas soon reappeared carrying armloads of wood. Xander, trying to be the man, began to set fire to the pile of kindling not noticing Spike was already the official fire starter. His pile of wood was already ablaze and the girls giggled at Xander's pile of smoke. Xander stood and gave Spike a disgusted look.

"Sorry, zippos are much better at making fire. Me make good fire," he grunted, pounding his chest like he was the first caveman to discover it.

"Well, you are old enough to be a Neanderthal, so it's no surprise." Xander snickered as Spike smirked and lunged towards him. Xander ran away and stood behind Buffy for protection under her protests. She grasped both boys by their ear and pulled them over to the blankets, both guys "ow-ing" all the way there.

Soon after they were all stretched out, cuddling against their significant other, feeling very much content with tummies full of yummy goodies. A peacefulness settled over the pack as silence permeated the air. Dawn was the first to break that silence.

"I'm bored. Can we play a game or do something?"

"I can think of something to do," Anya said matter-of-factly, "but it doesn't involve the rest of you. Just Xander." She grinned at her fiancé, who smiled back.

"Um, that is just gross, and something I don't really want to see, so, no." Dawn looked over to her sister for help but Buffy and Spike seemed to be caught up in a private conversation of their own.

"You guys are all party-poopers. Aren't we supposed to be having fun? Well, I'm not having any fun right now. Me, Dawn, the whiny teenager who you all are supposed to be paying attention to and taking care of."

"Alright, Dawnie, we'll play a game with you." Willow pleasantly offered.

"Yeah, bit. Sis and I are ready to jump into the "Dawn's barrel o' fun". Whatcha wanna play?"

"Um, how 'bout we play 20 questions?" She was bombarded with many no-s, headshakes, uh-uhs, and one forget it.

"OK, how 'bout Truth or Dare?" This time is was moans and groans.

"Well, don't be so enthusiastic," Dawn said sarcastically. "How about we go around and everyone has to tell something humiliating about themselves that no one else knows." No one made a sound.

"Alrighty, then. I'll go first. I used to suck my thumb until I was eight years old."

"Dawn, how can you...oh never mind," Buffy rolled her eyes.

RJ cleared his throat. "Well, even though I brush my teeth three times a day, even before bedtime, I still have horrible morning breath." Everyone started to chuckle and giggle.

"That is your most humiliating thing?" Xander laughed.

"Well, what's yours?" Anya pried.

"When I was in sixth grade, I was playing on the jungle gym, trying to act all cool and everything, climbing higher than anybody and I ripped my pants...outside, in front of everyone." His story got a few giggles and chuckles as well. "What's yours, An?"

"Um, let me see. Oh, I miscounted a deposit one time at the Magic Box." She smiled and looked at everyone. Everyone just sat there staring at her with mouths open and puzzled looks. She made a what face and shook her head with exasperation.

"Ok, my turn," Willow replied. "When I was 13 I once drank my milk so fast at lunchtime in the school cafeteria, I had a milk mustache for the rest of the day. No one told me until I ran into Xander sixth period. You were always such a good pal, Xand."

"Oh, wow, that would have been embarrassing, Will," Meg rubbed her back gently. "Mine would be the time I cast a spell and turned my neighbor's prize winning dog into a cat. Then I had to explain to her why the cat was so friendly around her all the time."

"Oh, poor baby." Willow returned the back rub. "Hey Buff, it's your turn."

"Hmmm, let me think. Ooh, I know. I once walked in on Giles and Olivia."

"Oooh, agh, no, no, no." Willow started shaking her head furiously.

Xander covered his eyes. "Oh, so trying not to get a mental picture. No, go away. Aww, too late. May I dare ask what they were doing? Ok, no, wait, I don't want to know."

"I do," Anya seemed too interested.

"Thank God it was pre-nakedness. I would have been scarred for life if they had.... Spike, your turn."

"I think you've all seen me all the times I've ever been embarrassed. Of course, you would never have known I was embarrassed," he said slyly.

"You're telling me there is nothing about you that we don't know?" Buffy tried to figure out a way to get him to come clean.

"Oh, alright. Bloody hell, I can't believe I'm going to tell you this. I'm really...mrikalish," he mumbled the last word as he turned his head away.

Buffy grabbed his chin and turned him face forward. "What? And clearly this time."

"Ticklish. I'm...really...ticklish. Everywhere."

"You're telling me I could have defeated you countless times if I would have poked you in your ribs? Can I test the theory now?"

Buffy went in with both hands. He grabbed her by the wrists and held her at bay, smirking. "Maybe later."

"Hey, I brought my pig skin. Anybody wanna play some touch football? Four to a team." RJ was **trying** to be enthusiastic.

"Hey, shirts against skins?" Xander chuckled but realized no one was laughing along with him, "Oookay, maybe not. I'm in, I'll play."

"Mmm, touch football? Sounds interesting. Can I be on Xander's team?" Anya anxiously asked.

"Meg and I will play. And we promise not to use any magic."

"Spike and I will play, too. Won't we, Spike?"

"Uh, I don't know so much about that, slayer. I'm not much of an athlete, especially American sports." Spike tried desperately to get out of playing.

Buffy stood up, stuck out her hand towards him and pulled him up to stand next to her. She stood on her tiptoes and lightly kissed him on the mouth.

"Come on, it will be fun. Tell you what, if I get the ball, you can tackle me."

"So if by chance I get the ball and you catch me, which, may I add, shall be rather difficult, what exactly do you get to do?" Spike asked lasciviously.

"If you get the ball?...I get to tickle you." She walked away looking over her shoulder at him seductively.

Spike growled, rolled his eyes, trudging along after her. "I knew it. I'm gonna regret ever letting the cat out of the bag."

Spike, Willow, Dawn and Xander were on team one. It took Xander a while to explain to Anya that they had to be on opposite teams to be able to touch the other. Rules were explained all around and the first play was in motion. Team Spike scored 2 touchdowns to Team Buffy's 1. By that time everyone was laughing too hard to play much more.

Team Spike had the ball as it was hiked to him. What Spike didn't know was that Buffy had artfully made arrangements beforehand for all of them to gang up on him. Even his own teammates turned traitorous on him. Buffy tackled him, straddled him and began the treacherous tickle bout. He bucked her off and started to crawl away before the others grabbed his ankles, his shirttail, his arms and even his waistband until he was outnumbered 7 to 1. They all converged at once on the unsuspecting vampire as laughter cut through the night air along with cries of desperation from Spike.

"Uncle, uncle," he cried, gasping for breath that he didn't really need. They all sat back, laughing hysterically and taking in the look of the defeated vampire. Everyone was covered in sand but didn't seem to mind as they helped each other up to move back over to the blankets and bonfire.

Dawn, RJ, Willow, and Meg roasted marshmallows while Anya and Xander made out on their own private blanket behind the others. Buffy and Spike cuddled and watched the moon dancing off of the waves. Not thirty minutes later, everyone had dozed off except the creature of the night. He looked around at the people who he considered his family. He had never felt so happy, so accepted and loved. Buffy snored softly in his arms as he ran his fingers through her golden locks. She smiled slightly. He whispered in her ear and she opened her eyes. Sitting up she saw the others snoozing. She turned around, ran the back of her fingers down the side of his face.

"We better get the kids home," she whispered.

"Yeah, I'll get them." He stood and brushed away some of the sand covering him.

"Come on, kiddies. Daddy's ready to pull out. Pack 'em up and move 'em out."

He was greeted with moans and groans but they all got up and gathered their things to pack in the van. Buffy wrapped her arm around Spike's waist, his arm went around her shoulders.

"I had fun tonight," he honestly told her.

"Good, I think everyone did. We should do this more often. We and our extended family."

"Family. I like the sound of that. I belong to a family."

"Yes, yes you do. A family that loves you."

That said family was now all sacked out throughout the whole back of the van. That made Spike smile even more.

The End


End file.
